Sounds of change at library

What happens when you take a creative young man, a musician by training, and place him in charge of the historically staid environs of the public library system?

Among other things you get a concert this weekend featuring some of the city's best young jazz musicians, one of the state's most promising Cajun music prodigies and one of the nation's top hip-hop bands.

Since Irvin Mayfield took the helm of the New Orleans public library's board in 2006, he has dared to dream big, drafting a $650 million master plan, replacing the libraries' top executives and spearheading a fund-raising program.

"We want the library to reflect the city culturally, using the fundamentals of sight, sound and taste, " he said, expressing a breadth of vision for the institution that is both insightful and refreshing.

Mayfield envisions a library that will be a place to learn about all the icons of New Orleans: not only literature, but food and music as well.

Suspicions in the dark

Indeed, the library may have a higher profile and clearer direction now than at any other point in its recent history. But Mayfield's tenure has also been marked by high staff turnover and questions of whether the shake-ups he's engineered, and the events he's produced, have been more about his self-glorification or library progress.

Suspicions are fueled by at least two factors: the whispered concerns of people who are critical of Mayfield's leadership and the absolute refusal of Mayor Ray Nagin's administration to obey the state's public records law.

Mayfield said he worked hard to be cooperative when my colleague, David Hammer, requested minutes from library board meetings. The Nagin administration took weeks longer to respond to the request than is allowed by law.

Though Hammer's story ran Thursday, the mayor's office has still not turned over all of the requested records.

Opportunity for heroism

Truth be told, the New Orleans public library was a neglected, declining institution even before the federal levees failed.

If Mayfield engineers a true resurgence, he will have earned hero status. Otherwise, he'll join that long line of New Orleans reformers whose vision is purely verbal and never actual.

. . . . . . .

Irvin Mayfield's fund-raising birthday party will take place Saturday at the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Ave. It will feature performances by Kermit Ruffins, Amanda Shaw, the Rebirth Brass Band, the Free Agents Brass Band, D.J. Soul Sister and the Roots. The tickets are free and available at any branch of the library, but a library card is required to get a ticket. Out-of-towners can get a temporary library card.